Health and Air Pollution Exposure Research

Sotiris Vardoulakis

APRIL Meeting

23 June 2009

Atmospheric Emissions

Population Exposure

Health Impacts

Air Quality Modelling

• Meteorology• Terrain effects• Urban canopy effects• Moving vehicles effects• Building ventilation/infiltration• Indoor sources & sinks• Regional background

• Location of residence, workplace, school, etc. • Transient microenvironments• Time-activity pattern• Population distribution• Statistical person profile• Susceptible groups

Exposure Modelling

• Exposure-response relationships • Baseline mortality / morbidity • Duration of exposure• Duration of health effects• Age / gender distribution • Disability weights

Health Impact Assessment

• Passive diffusion sampling• Active (pumped) sampling• Gravimetric particle sampling• Remote open path analysers• Light scattering instruments

• Passive diffusion sampling • Active (pumped) sampling• Gravimetric particle sampling• Bio-monitoring• Exposure diaries

Air Quality Monitoring Exposure Monitoring

• Toxicological evidence• Epidemiological evidence (time-series & cohort studies)• Mortality data, hospital admissions, clinic visits, etc.

Environmental Epidemiology

Air Pollutant Concentration

Air Pollution Exposure & Health Impact Assessment Case Studies

• “Green Grid” tree planting intervention in East London (PUrE, EPSRC-funded)

• “Red Route” traffic management intervention in Birmingham (Birmingham City Council & PUrE , EPSRC)

• Improving Sustainability of the Indoor Environment (PUrE-INTRAWISE, EPSRC-funded)

• Chemicals in the household (INTARESE, EU FP7 funded)

• Improved stoves to reduce indoor air pollution in Kenya (Chadwick Trust & GTZ)

East London Green Grid

http://www.thames-gateway.org.uk/projects-content.asp?id=160

Create a better environmental context for development

Improve air quality Improve flood risk

management Enhance biodiversity

and ecological values Secondary health

benefits (e.g. mental health, exercising)

Dispersion Modelling Approach

Grid cell depth = 10 m

Canopy height = 5 m

Human receptor = 1.5 m

wind

PM10

UFORE used to estimate PM10 interception

Air Pollution Modelling

Post-interventionPre-intervention

University of Manchester & Forrest Research (PUrE)

PM10 (μg m-3)

ADMS-URBAN & UFORE

Res. Hospital Admissions

Health Impact Assessment – 1 Respiratory Hospital Admissions Averted

Health Impact Assessment – 2 Premature Deaths Averted

Premature Deaths

Health Benefits London Green Grid

Exposed population: 1 million

-3.0

-2.0

-1.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

Year 2004

ca

se

s a

ve

rte

d

Premature Mortality

Hospital Admissions

Red Route Network

• Reduces traffic congestion by removal of stopping/parking

• Areas where parking is restricted are defined by red lines

• Road and traffic signal improvements

• Use parking facilities off the main road

• Red Routes blamed to be fast-flowing mini motorways disrupting community life and commercial activities.

Birmingham Traffic Management Intervention

SCOTLAND

LONDON

BIRMINGHAM

ENGLANDRed Route

HIARed Route

HIA

Stratford Road

Stratford RoadRed Route

22.5 m

12 m

WestEastNO2 and BTEX

passive tubes

6 m 6 m

14 m

3.5 m

NOX

analyser

PM10 (TEOM)

Stratford Road (Birmingham)

Warwick Road

Wea

ther

oak

Roa

d

Newto

n RoadW

ilton R

oad

Fulham

Road

Sha

kesp

eare

Roa

d

Johns Road

N

Durham

Road

Centenary Square: 17.05 Bristol Road: 25.35

Baker

Stre

et

31.97

33.05

22.77

23.62

28.18

40.4131.18

28.3123.82

27.7725.27

Stratford Road

29.78

24.76

16.03

21.84

30.21

27.09

Annual mean NO2 (ppb)

NO2 O3 Benzene

Vardoulakis S., Valiantis M., Milner J., ApSimon H., 2007. Operational air pollution modelling in the UK – street canyon applications and challenges. Atmospheric Environment 41, 4622–4637

0

5

10

15

20

25

0 10 20 30 40NO2 (ppb)

Hei

gh

t (m

)

OSPM-summerOSPM-winterpassive-summerpassive-winter

0

5

10

15

20

25

0 10 20 30O3 (ppb)

Hei

gh

t (m

)

OSPM-summerOSPM-winterpassive-summerpassive-winter

0

5

10

15

20

25

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0Benzene (ppb)

Hei

gh

t (m

)

OSPM-summerOSPM-winterpassive-summerpassive-winter

Dispersion Modeling (OSPM)

Background

Street canyon

100 m

Junction

300 mSurrounding

Population Exposure Model

Health Benefits: Air Quality

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

0.40

Benzene NO2 PM10

Ca

se

s a

vert

ed

Exposed Population: 0.3 million

Premature Mortality

Res. Hospital Admissions

Excess Cancer Cases

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

PM10

morta

lity

PM10

morb

idity

C em

issi

ons

Traffi

c nois

e

Road a

ccid

ents

Jour

ney

times

Regio

n eco

nomy

Local b

usines

s

Impl

em. c

ost

Env. J

ustic

e

TOTAL

We

igh

ted

Im

pa

ct

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

To

tal

Imp

ac

t

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

An Integrated Framework for Improving Sustainability of the Indoor Environment

(PUrE Intrawise)

OPTIONS(CASE

STUDIES)

Ventilation

Mould growth & house dust

mites

Cardio- respiratory morbidity

Cold/heat related morbidity/mortality

Psycho-social well-being

Thermal comfort

Indoor air quality

Micro-generation

Modal switching

Emissions to indoor environment

Outdoor air quality

Climate change

THE LIFE CYCLE OF ENERGY PROVISION

Energy efficiency

Emissions & wastes

Extraction of fuels

Power generation

INDOR & LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

OUTDOOR & GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Power distribution

Winter/summer indoor

temperatures

Use of space Social interactions Sense of control

Emissions to outdoor environment

Environmental impacts (Resource depletion, Global warming,

Acidification, Nutrification, Eco-toxicity etc.)

Fuel processing

Integrated Assessment of Health Risks of Environmental Stressors in Europe

UK - before

44%

4%9%

22%

11%

1%8%1%

UK - after

69%

17%

1%12%

1%

paint thinner

spray primer

spray paint

glue repairing

shoe polish

car polish

magazines

printed matter

background

0

40

80

120

160

BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER

United Kingdom Republic of Serbia

DA

LY

sAdult Women

Adult Men

Household Chemicals Toluene Formaldehyde Phthalates (DBP)

Policy Measures (e.g. Directive 2005/59/EC limiting the use of toluene in adhesives and spray paints)

Integrated Exposure Assessment (ConsExpo)

Multi-pathways

Chronic & acute health effects

Population subgroups

Toluene

Improved stoves to reduce indoor air pollution in Kenya (Caroline Ochieng)

http://www.who.int/indoorair/en/

Conlusions

• Relatively small margin for ambient air quality improvement in UK cities, but synergies between air pollution and climate change

• Improved indoor air quality by optimising building design, ventilation and energy use in houses

• Large health benefits from air quality improvement (indoor and outdoor) in developing countries

Current Research at LSHTM

• Environmental Epidemiology research

• Operational monitoring and modelling techniques to characterise exposure to air pollution

• Health impact assessment of environmental interventions

• Quantitative Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (direct and indirect health impacts)

• NERC-funded project on high temperatures, ozone and health (with Univ. Edinburgh) – led by Paul Wilkinson

• DH-funded project on ozone-mortality relationships (with St George's and Univ. Edinburgh) – led by Ben Armstrong

• DH-funded project on air pollution and cardiovascular disease – led by Shakoor Hajat

• DH-funded project on the oxidative potential of outdoor air pollution (with King's College) – led by Cathryn Tonne

• ESRC fellowship on air pollution and health in London – Cathryn Tonne

• EPSRC-funded LUCID project on adaptation to climate change and air pollution in London (led by UCL)

• Wellcome Trust air pollution-related burdens as part of a project on climate change mitigation – led by Andy Haines

Other air pollution related projects at PEHRU (mainly epidemiology)

Acknowledgments

Public & Environmental Health Research Unit:

Zaid Chalabi, Tony Fletcher, Paul Wilkinson, Ben Armstrong, Sari Kovats, Carolyn Stephens, Chris Grundy, Shakoor Hajat, Emma Hutchinson, Sam Pattenden, Ai Milojevic, Cathryn Tonne, James Milner, Antonio Gasparrini, Rebecca Steinbach, Caroline Ochieng, Xiyu Phoon, Simon Lloyd

Health Protection Agency (Giovanni Leonardi)

Environment Agency (Bernard Fisher)

PUrE and PUrE-INTRAWISE consortia

INTARESE consortium

INERIS institute (France)